If we all pattern our behavior after the worst examples available to us then all is truly lost.

Monday, September 05, 2005

My Bad (Again)

General Honore Revisited...

Feedback on "Oops Never Mind" indicates to me that I'm eternally capable of artfully employing the English language to express thoughts and sentiments exactly opposite of the ones I intend to communicate.

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING I've seen and heard about General Honore's actions in New Orleans has been nothing short of exemplary. And I'm convinced, at this point, that his relatively late arrival on the scene was not due to any action or inaction on his part, or on the part of Admiral Keating, his boss at NORTHCOM.

The point I earlier attempted to make was that Honore doesn't have a whole lot of sympathy or empathy for the press, and he doesn't come off very well in front of it. Which suits me fine, frankly. We've had enough of senior government officials pandering to the cameras.

That Honore has so little regard for keeping up an appearance of correctness, and such an apparent regard for achieving the goals of his mission, speaks well of him. This guy's not fishing for a fourth star, or a second career in politics.

One last thought. Having had some close up experience with Admiral Keating's leadership style, it's not surprising that he'd put a hard boiled three star in hands on charge at ground zero, and give a damn less about the political consequences.

Trust your instincts, Jeff; the guy sounds a little flamboyant to me, too. Don't be so sure he's not fishing for a fourth star. In an interview I saw, he sounded capable of lying convincingly, at least about his impressions of Bush.

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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (retired) was a naval flight officer who commanded an aircraft squadron and was operations officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt, the carrier that fought the Kosovo War. He earned a master-of-arts degree in post-modern imperialism at the U.S. Naval War College where many of his essays became required student reading. Jeff’s weekly satires on U.S. foreign policy high jinks appear at Antiwar.com and his critically applauded novel Bathtub Admirals (Kunati Books), a lampoon on America's rise to global dominance, is on sale now. Jeff lives with dogs in a house by the beach on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, and in the summer he has a nice tan.